The Art of Compromise
by brumal
Summary: "Ai, do you want kids?" he asked, heartbeat steady against Aiichirou's back.


**A/N**: A drabble request with the following prompt: "Would you do a drabble of RinTori where they've been married for a few years and finally decide to adopt a child? I'd love it if Aiichirou thinks Rin wants a son, but Rin secretly wants a daughter!"

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This story is semi-related to _A Tea Party for Three_.

* * *

"Hey, Ai," Rin called out casually, leaning back in his chair. Across the small room, Aiichirou looked up from his game console and hummed in acknowledgement at Rin's beckoning. "Akari got a hold of Haru's phone again. Look at the picture she sent me." He pushed away from his desk and walked over to the couch, where Aiichirou was curled up on.

The silver-haired man paused his game and scooted over a little as the redhead flopped down on the seat next to him. When Rin draped his arm over his shoulder, Aiichirou leaned back on his chest. He peered at the screen of the phone, where a blurry picture of one green eye and a mess of dark hair glowed. The edges of a cut-off peace sign and a wide smile peeked at the two of them from the corner of the picture. Unable to help himself, Aiichirou laughed.

"She's becoming quite the photographer," he said, smiling.

Rin's phone vibrated again, and a new picture came through. This time, it was a picture of one of the many cats Makoto had adopted with Haruka. Their daughter was always so fond of taking pictures of their cats. A message followed through after a few long seconds.

_ Yukio-chan is sleepimg on tye bed again!;! _

This time, it was Rin who let out a bark of laughter. "Typos and all, huh?" He began tapping out a message of his own to the girl.

_You'd better watch out, or your papa's gonna get angry at you for taking his phone._

The two of them waited patiently as the six-year-old drafted a reply.

_Irts,okay! Papa will not gwt mad! __  
_

"If she says so," Rin chuckled.

"I think she's right. Haruka-san hardly uses his phone anyway," Aiichirou responded.

Rin snorted. "If it's one thing that hasn't changed from that guy, it's that."

_What did you do today?_

Aiichirou watched Rin fondly as he sent the message.

The redhead caught him staring. "What?" he asked with a small smirk. "You have that 'Ah, Senpai is so cool' look on your face again."

Aiichirou flushed and looked down. "It's nothing," he said with a smile. "Don't worry about it."

Not believing him, Rin grunted and nudged his arm under the younger man's chin so that Aiichirou tilted his head back. Cool, blue eyes looked at him upside-down, faint eyelashes thick and slightly curled. Rin smiled as he leaned down and kissed him firmly.

They broke apart when the phone vibrated once more.

_Tea party! (^ω^)_

_Daddy and Papa qerent very sirius thouh. I had to,yell at them!_

Both of them laughed.

"I wonder where she gets that fiery personality from?" Rin chuckled.

Aiichirou leaned his head back and pressed his lips against the underside of Rin's jaw. "Maybe from Uncle Rin."

"Yeah right. She's nothing like me. She's more like Haru, if he actually voiced himself better."

In response, the silver-haired man hummed. "I wonder if our child would take more after you or me, if we had one," he muttered softly.

Aiichirou had tilted his face down again, this time thoughtfully, so Rin could only see the crown of his head. He squeezed his arms tighter around Aiichirou and pushed his mouth and nose against his hair, breathing in deeply.

"Ai, do you want kids?" he asked, heartbeat steady against Aiichirou's back.

The other man stayed quiet for a moment. Then, he said, "I always thought you wanted children, Rin-san. You always looked and talked about Akari-chan so warmly, and it's already been several years since we've been together, so..." He kept his eyes steadily trained on his hands, which were fiddling with the edges of his game system.

Rin watched as Aiichirou's ears grew red. He kissed the back of his right ear and murmured, "You'd make a wonderful dad."

The blush on the silver-haired man deepened. "So would you!" he replied immediately, heart fluttering pleasantly at Rin's soft words.

The redhead chuckled and picked up his phone again. Aiichirou barely caught what he sent before it was stowed away.

_Okay, Akari. Uncle Ai and I are busy, so I'll chat with you later._

Slowly, Rin exhaled over Aiichirou's ear, his breath hot and loud. He rolled his hips forward against the smaller man's back. "Then should we get started on that, Ai?" The devilish smile on his lips blended clearly into his voice.

AIichirou looked behind him, scandalized. "You know that's impossible between two mmmngh!"

The rest of Aiichirou's sentence was swallowed whole by Rin.

* * *

"I can't believe we're really doing this," Aiichirou said in a mix of excitement and nervousness. Despite his jitteriness, he still kept time with Rin's brisk steps.

Next to him, Rin laughed slightly. He didn't get annoyed but only said, "I know. That's all you've been saying since we got on the first train." He looked over at the Aiichirou and received a stunning grin in return. They were in public, so he couldn't do much, but Rin brushed some of Aiichirou's hair from his eyes gently and smiled back.

"I know we've been doing a lot of research, but it's hard to believe that we're really doing this!" he repeated, apparently incapable of saying anything else. "There's so much to learn with our future son, I don't know if I'm actually ready," Aiichirou said, nervously fixing his bangs, even though Rin just did that for him.

"Yeah," Rin replied in a faraway voice, his eyes just beginning to mist over as he started to project into the future. It was only a split second later that he came back into focus. "Wait, 'son'?"

Aiichirou looked over at him curiously. His eyebrows pinched slightly. "Isn't that right? Rin-san, I always thought you wanted a boy!"

The redhead stopped walking, causing Aiichirou to do the same. "I thought you wanted a girl?"

The two of them looked at each other. Then, Rin looked away and scratched his cheek a little embarrassedly. "'Sides that, I kind of wanted a daughter…"

Although they had been doing a lot of research on the process of adopting a child, neither of them had explicitly brought up the subject of whether they were going to adopt a boy or a girl. They were stuck in a rather interesting dilemma.

Aiichirou laughed a little. "Well, um, I guess..." he started but didn't finish. He started to walk again, this time much more slowly. Rin followed his pace. "I don't mind either way, since it's a decision made with you, Rin-san," Aiichirou said softly, smiling.

Despite himself, Rin chuckled a little and lightly stroked his fingers against Aiichirou's hand as they walked next to each other. They hooked pinkies for a brief second before letting go.

Rin looked around and spotted the adoption center they had found online. "This is it, isn't it?" he asked, jerking his chin in the direction of the building. It looked very professional, though not so much that it was stifling. There was still a sense of warmth and personalness about it, which comforted both of them.

"Yes, I believe so," Aiichirou answered, a touch of anxiety returning in his eyes.

The two of them walked in silence for the last thirty seconds. They stood in front of the automatic doors and gave each other one last glance. Rin was the one who pressed the button on the door to open it. They slid open, and both of them stepped in.

The doors closed behind them and a voice suddenly called out to them.

"Ah! Please be careful!"

They were taken a little off guard but didn't have time to figure out exactly what they were supposed to be careful of. And then, just as unexpectedly, Rin felt something run into his legs. He looked down in surprise.

A small boy, maybe three or four, had collided with the redhead. He backed up a few steps and looked up. His eyes widened as he realized how tall Rin was.

Rin crouched down, as not to startle the young boy. He smiled a little uncertainly, glancing at Aiichirou once in a while as if to confirm if he was doing the right thing. The silver-haired man nodded subtly and smiled back.

"Hey, are you okay?" Rin asked, keeping his voice low.

The little boy couldn't tear his eyes away from Rin's mouth, however, and his own lips parted into an "O."

Suddenly, he grinned wildly, turned around, and loudly yelled, "Onee-chan! Onee-chan, I found the Big Bad Wolf! O_neeee_-chan!"

As Rin looked offended, Aiichirou started laughing and a little girl who looked a year or so older than the boy ran out into the area, beckoned by her little brother's voice. She came up next to him and held his hand with a bright expression.

"Hi," she said to Rin, her voice a little subdued by shyness. Her brother hugged her side and nuzzled his head against her. They giggled.

The redhead looked and smiled meaningfully at Aiichirou. Gently, Aiichirou placed his hand and Rin's shoulder and squeezed reassuringly, his lips melting into a fond smile as well.

Over the years, Rin and Aiichirou had learned to make compromises with each other, and this was one compromise they didn't mind making at all.


End file.
